Business Opportunities in the Food Industry - Botswana - Dec 2014

NationalFoodTechnologyResearchCentre
Endlesspossibilitiesinfoodresearch
Business Opportunities in the Food Industry –Business Opportunities in the Food Industry –
BotswanaBotswana
presented by Selalelo M. Mpotokwanepresented by Selalelo M. Mpotokwane

Introduction
From 2005 until 2014, Botswana imports averaged 4.426
billion BWP, reaching an all time high of 9.778 billion BWP in
Sept 2008, and a record low of 2.458 billion BWP in Feb
2009 http://www.tradingeconomics.com/botswana/imports
These included fuel, food, beverages and tobacco,
machinery and electric equipment, chemical and rubber
products, and vehicles
Currently, main import partners are South Africa (75% of
total imports), China, Israel, Namibia and Zimbabwe

Introduction 2
Trade Statistics – Balance of Trade

Introduction 3
It can never be over-emphasized that Botswana still
continues to struggle in efforts to balance imports with
exports, and to diversify her economy away from the
diamond mining industry
The challenge is even more pronounced with regard to
agriculture, where Botswana, being semi-arid already,
also has to reckon with the ever-increasing challenges of
climate change

Introduction 4
The national situation analysis recently performed as a
preliminary stage in the development of Botswana’s
Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) Policy identified the
following domains that are relevant to food security:
Arable Farming (Temo), Livestock-rearing (Thuo),
Traditional Food Systems and Cuisine (Dijo/Kapei), and
Veld/Forest Products (Dibapalwa-nageng)
Agricultural survey results for 2011 indicated that farmers
heavily relied on ‘purchased food’ to meet their food
needs – about 79.4% of farmers’ food needs were met
from ‘purchased food’, vs.15.7% from ‘own farm produce’
Farmers are thus vulnerable to volatile food prices, which
may affect their own household food security

Botswana has however been ranked second in Africa in
terms of food security (after South Africa) – Economic
Intelligence Unit – Global Food Security Index
South Africa – 40th
in the world (out of 104 countries ranked)
Botswana – 47th
“Despite domestic crop failures, Botswana's strong food
security situation stems from the country's purchasing
power and presence of food safety net programmes.
In addition, factors such as the proportion of the
population living under or close to US$2 per day or the
global poverty line, as well as the level of agricultural
import tariffs, also favour the country's food security
status”.
Food Security Intro’… 5

“While various government programmes have aimed to
drive self-sufficiency in food production over the decades,
latest estimates indicate that food comprises the lion's
share of agricultural imports, being valued at P5.23 billion
in 2011. Of this total, South Africa accounts for more than
80 percent as a source
The biggest threat [to food security] would be increases in
the prices of food imports from South Africa, and supply
interruptions due to crop failures”.
http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?
sid=4&aid=55&dir=2012/July/Friday27
Food Security Intro’… 6

Botswana’s water supply challenges can be alleviated
through promotion of technologies that facilitate utilization
of waste-water; this allows for growing of even those
crops that typically have a relatively high water demand
Several of these technologies e.g. waste-water maturation
ponds, reed-beds, etc. are discussed in the document
“Proceedings of an Awareness-Raising Workshop on
Ecological Sanitation”
http://www.ircwash.org/sites/default/files/Wirbelauer-2004-
Proceedings.pdf
At a very basic level, grey-water (bath/shower-, laundry
and kitchen waste-water) can-, where necessary be
treated accordingly (wetlands, waste-water ponds, etc.)
and used in backyard gardens
Water Resources Intro’… 7

Climate change is expected to cause an increase in
weather-related disasters and extreme weather events
Mycotoxins (toxins/poisons produced by moulds) are
considered the key issue for food safety under climate
change, and are dangerous to human health even at low
doses
Carbon-dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere affects
post-harvest quality, causing tuber malformation,
occurrence of common scab, and changes in reducing
sugar contents in potatoes
Warmer and wetter weather (particularly warmer winters)
will increase the risk and occurrence of animal diseases
Climate Change Intro’… 8

Gregory (2009) reports that heat stress in animals can
increase the following risks:
pale-soft-exudative (PSE) meat in pigs and turkeys
heat shortening in broilers
dark cutting beef in cattle
and dehydration in most species
Changes in livestock and poultry management practices
in response to climate-change-related hazards could
indirectly lead to changes in meat quality; for example,
selecting for heat-tolerant cattle could lead to tougher,
less juicy beef
Also, pre-conditioning broilers to heat stress to encourage
better survival during transport could lead to more variable
breast meat pH (Gregory, 2009)

Food innovation needs to respond to emerging challenges
as regards climate change; Moretti et al. (2009) note that
“temperature increase and the effects of greenhouse
gases are among the most important issues associated
with climate change”
Food processing technologies have to build in processes
such as fortification/enrichment to compensate for raw
materials that have low nutrient content
Processing technologies can also be re-designed, e.g.
processing at elevated temperatures in situations where
the risk of food pathogens is high

Thus, technological interventions in food processing ought
to take into consideration the changes that climate change
brings about in agricultural produce

With Botswana’s food industry being rather small, local
entrepreneurs usually find themselves constantly
having to compete unfavourably with imported foods,
esp. from South Africa
Online retailers such as Alibaba, which commands an
enormous global presence and from whom food
industry equipment may be purchased from different
suppliers at competitive prices, and similar companies
such as eBay and Amazon, have made it easier for
entrepreneurs to take up new technologies at
affordable cost (Alibaba’s phenomenal growth has
seen this Chinese company recently list on the New
York Stock exchange)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/0
9/19/alibaba-surges-in-first-day-trading/15828389/
Food Enterprises Intro’… 12

Ensuring that a food product survives and prospers in a
highly competitive marketplace takes careful planning
and informed decisions
Effective technology transfer and commercialization will
ensure that food products remain sustainable in the
market
Food Enterprises Intro’… 13

Objectives of today’s talk
To discuss the opportunities that exist within
Botswana’s food industry, and suggest how they can
be tapped in order to significantly diversify the
economy, and markedly increase food security

Product and Process Development
Before entering the food processing industry, an entrepreneur ought to
consider the following aspects, from concept-, to commercialization of
each food product that they wish to manufacture
•Concept & Prototype Development
•Ingredient Functionality & Substitution
•Line Extensions & Quality Improvements
•Development of Product/Process Specifications
•Assessment of Shelf Life & Packaging
•Regulatory Issues & Requirements
•Manufacturing Process Development & Scale-Up

Raw Material Availability for Food Processing
Value-addition to raw materials from sorghum, beans,
sweet potato and maize, which were identified in a
NFTRC survey in 2001 as the four most widely grown
arable crops, as well as sweet reed, melons,
watermelons, etc. can create noticeable profit margins
through processed products such as breakfast cereals,
puffed snacks, snack bars, desserts, salads, fermented
products, malted or sprouted products, beverages,
syrups, spreads e.g. jam, etc.

Raw Material Availability for Food Processing 2
Where water supply is not a challenge, horticultural
produce such as cabbage, onions, bell peppers, chilli
peppers, tomatoes, etc. can also be produced and
processed into frozen vegetables, dried vegetables, sauces,
purees, pastes, pickles, etc.
Despite being frequently faced with droughts, Botswana is
endowed with generally hardy natural/veldt products that, if
sustainably utilized, can positively contribute towards food
security
Animals are also major sources of raw materials, mainly in
the form of meat, milk, and eggs

Issues to think about – sustainability of veldt-
based plant raw material sources
• As a baseline, there is need to have quantitative data on
the distribution of existing plant species across the
country, even before enticing manufacturers to go into
processing of products based on
• There is also need to actively propagate those landraces
that have been identified to have most desirable traits, in
an effort to drive towards ensuring availability of raw
materials for processing; such agricultural interventions
would solidly buttress the agro-processing industry and
alleviate prospective food processing entrepreneur’s fears
of failing in business due to shortage or lack of raw
material

• South Africa is quite advanced in commercialization and
marketing of plant species, among them indigenous ones
e.g. Seeds for Africa http://stores.ebay.com/Seeds-for-
Africa , and http://africaseeds.com,
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/seller/390651/Seeds_and_All /
based plant raw material sources 2

– Bidding and buying of plant material under the Garden,
Outdoor living and Pets category; prices as at November
2013 were:
1. Mogose – Bauhinia petersiana – R16.50 for 10 seeds
2. Mungongo (mokongwa) – Schinziophyton rautanenii –
R27.00 for 10 seeds
3. Mowana – Adansonia digitata – R19.00 for 10 seeds (R10.00
for 5 seeds; 20 packs of 5 seeds for R180.00 – Sept 2014)
4. Morula – Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra – R8.00/10seeds
(R8.00 for 5 seeds; 20 packs of 5 seeds for R14.00 – Sept
2014)

5. Mmilo – Vangueria infausta – R7.00 for 10 seeds
6. Moretlwa – Grewia flava – R5.25 for 10 seeds
7. Mokolwane – Hyphaene petersiana – R30.00 for 10 seeds

Sustainable Commerce http://www.sustainable-
commerce.co.za/indigenous-plant-products
• The website notes that South Africa is fortunate to have a wide
range of indigenous plants that can be used to create commercial
products
• Local communities can utilize such species for profit, spurring
economic growth and alleviating poverty
• Some of the available natural products from indigenous plants
being sold by South Africans come from the Baobab tree, Devil’s
Claw, and Morula tree
• Botanical gardens such as the Kirstenbosch National Botanical
Garden sell indigenous plant seeds
http://www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch

– Indigenous plant species products trade – visit
www.phytotradeafrica.com
– Propagation of indigenous species, especially veldt plants,
is thus a potentially strong niche for economic growth in
Botswana
– Botswana is endowed with expanses of land on which
indigenous species propagation of high-yielding and/or
value trees, shrubs, leafy vegetables, rootcrops, etc. could
be done
– These raw materials can then be used to process value-
added products

– Propagation of Indigenous Species (cont’d…)
Department of Forestry and Range Resources (DFRR) – has
since embarked on a national propagation and cultivation project –
tree seedlings are grown in 21 DFRR nurseries, with an average
production of ½ a million indigenous tree seedlings, sold at
subsidized prices – Mr. Joshua J. Moloi – jjmoloi@gov.bw
Backyard gardens – the number of backyard tree nurseries is also
growing – in 2012 a total of 173 backyard nursery and landscaping
beneficiaries were mobilized as part of the Poverty Eradication
Programme
Millenium Seed/ Useful Plants Projects – Dr. Khola Mogotsi –
Botswana College of Agriculture – kmogotsi@bca.bw
Veld Products R&D – already demonstrated feasibility with some
species, e.g. morula, mmilo, morojwa, etc. – Mr. Frank Taylor –
Wild Foods – frank@wildfruitsofafrica.com

– Word of Caution:
 It is highly crucial for Botswana to balance the preceding possibilities of
utilizing/exploiting her veldt/natural products, with considerations of
protecting the country’s (plant) genetic resources from exploitation by
third parties
While it would be most undesirable to stifle trade by stringently
controlling access to such biological resources (in the spirit of
preventing erosion of Botswana’s rich biodiversity, and protecting the
country’s economy), the country’s Phytosanitary-, as well as Customs
border control systems have to be alert and strictly adhere to current
regulations (as determined from time to time) governing the movement
of-, and trade in such plants
Instruments such as the Convention on Biodiversity, as well as the
Swakopmund Protocol, provide guidelines through which Botswana can
carve her own sui generis (unique; one-of-a-kind) system for the
protection of such biological resources and the knowledge associated
with them

– Word of Caution (cont’d)….:
The Philippines for example has, through a sui generis system,
enacted legislation giving indigenous communities rights over their
traditional knowledge (TK), which extend to controlling access to
ancestral lands, access to biological and genetic resources and to
indigenous knowledge related to these resources
Under such a system, access by interested foreign parties is based
on prior informed consent of the community in line with customary
laws, applying the rule “no permit, no collection”, and with heavy
fines for those in breach
Any benefits arising from the genetic resources or TK will be shared,
and the indigenous communities are entitled to participate at all
levels of decision-making (Stenton, 2003)

Food Processing Possibilities
Having painted the preceding landscape on raw material
sustainability, the following food processing possibilities are
relevant for Botswana’s food industry:
Oil-pressing is a simple and appropriate processing
technology that is available for exploitation
Meat products such as biltong, smoked beef, sausages,
polonies, pastrami, seswaa, serobe, dried soups, etc. also
offer opportunities for business
Dairy products such as yoghurt, madila, whey drinks and
cheese may also be processed

Food Processing Possibilities 2
Besides using cultivated crops and domestic animals as
sources of raw materials, long shelf-life canned-, pickled-,
frozen-, dried-, smoked-, pasteurized-, etc. products may
be processed using veldt/wild raw materials, such as:
 mmilo (Vangueria infausta)
 morula (Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra)
 mmupudu (Mimusops zeyheri)
 mowana (Adansonia digitata)
 morojwa (Azanza garckeana)
 mopennweeng/mothata (Pappea capensis)
 moretlwa (Grewia flava)
 mogwana (Grewia bicolor)
 motsotsojane/mokgomphatha (Grewia flavescens Juss. var.
flavescens)

 mokapane (Anthosicyos naudinianus/Citrullus naudinianus/
Cucumis naudinianus/Colocynthis naudinianus)
 monyaku (Cucumis africanus var. zeyheri; Cucumis prophetarum
subsp. zeyheri)
 sesoswane (Citrullus ecrirrhosus)
 mosukudu (Lippia scaberrima)
 mosukujane (Lippia javanica)
 lengana (Artemisia afra)

Food Processing Possibilities… 4
As well as… important sources of insect protein
phane (Imbrasia belina)
Lebitse/kakanatswii (Sternocera orissa Buq.)

… important sources of insect protein
monakamongwe (Agrius convolvuli L.)
nato (Cirina forda)

Game meat can also be processed accordingly – however, please
remember – no more hunting in Botswana
mmutla (Lepus saxatilis)
phala (Aepyceros melampus melampus)
ntšhe/mptshe/mmamptshe

Name of Animal Local Name and
Scientific Name
Number Allowed
on Special Game
License (SGL)
Bat-eared Fox Otocyon megalotis 50
Caracal Caracal caracal 10
Duiker Phuti Cephalophus
monticola
30
Eland Phofu (dun) Taurotragus
oryx
1
Gemsbok Oryx gazella 4
Genet (tologwani) Geneta
geneta
50
Hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus 4
Impala Phala (Aepyceros
melampus)
2
Jackal (black backed) Phokoje (Canis
mesomelas)
50
Jackal (side striped) Canis adustus 50
Table 1. Species and numbers of animals that before 2013 could be
hunted per calendar year, as stated in the Special Game License

Name of
Animal
Local Name and Scientific Name Number
Allowed on
Special Game
License (SGL)
Kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros 1
Monitor Lizard (Leguaan) Varanus niloticus 10
Ostrich Struthio camelus 2
Silver fox Vulpes chama 10
Springbok Tshephe Antidorcus marsupialis 4
Steenbok Raphicerus campestris 30
Warthog Kolobe-ya-naga Phacochoerus
aethiopicus
3
Wild cat Felis silvestris lybica 50
Wildebeest Kgokong Connachaetus taurinus 4
Totals 20 species 365 individual
animals
Table 1. The species and numbers of animals that can be hunted per
calendar year, as stated in the Special Game License

The following recipes, based on traditional dishes, may be
developed, targeting mainly the tourism and hospitality
industry e.g. restaurants, and for mass catering e.g.
schools, hospitals, prisons, institutional cafeterias, etc.
 mosutlhane – boiled dehulled/pearled sorghum
 lesasaoka – boiled wholegrain sorghum
 mptshaptsha – boiled and dried mature corn/maize-on-the-cob,
slightly re-cooked before consumption
 kabu – boiled salted mature maize, off the cob
 legala/logala – porridge cooked with milk

bogobe ja lerotse/thophi – porridge cooked with Citrullus lanatus
cooking melon
seswaa – meat (typically beef, lamb or goat) that is boiled until
soft, then pounded until the fibres separate
roasted sweet potato
thepe (Amaranthus spp.) – boiled wild leafy vegetable
rothwe (Cleome gynandra L.) – boiled wild leafy vegetable
etc.

NFTRC – Customer-focused approach
NFTRC seeks to:
1.Add value to food materials through development and application of
scientific and technological research
2.Generate and package commercial food-processing projects for potential
SMMEs
3.Work directly with food and beverage companies to help solve problems and
improve their production and products
4.Help the food industry meet new technical challenges
5.Provide technical assistance and support to entrepreneurs setting up and
operating small and medium scale food processing enterprises
6.Provide technical support to relevant government departments or
organizations (e.g. BOBS, MoA, MoH, etc.)

NFTRC’s Research and Development Areas
Indigenous Foods (incl. veldt/natural products)
Cereals and Root Crops
Pulses, Oilseeds
Fruits and Vegetables
Meat
Dairy

Product development and reformulation
NFTRC offers technical service to food manufacturers and
handlers in the areas of:
Process design and optimization
Value-added products
Nutritional enhancement
Convenience foods
Process development, including use of food additives,
colourings, flavourings and texture modifiers
Good manufacturing practice and good hygiene practice
Packaging and labelling

Product testing and evaluation
NFTRC offers technical service in:
Sensory evaluation and consumer studies
Shelf-life testing
Textural and physico-chemical characterization of food
products
Food modeling and engineering
Quality control and assurance

Training – skills transfer in food processing and
food safety
 Training modules cover a wide range of topics on Food Processing
and Preservation, as well as Food Safety
 These include:
 Food Legislation
 Food processing using local raw materials
 Good Hygiene Practice (GHP) & Good Manufacturing Practice
(GMP)
 Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)

Supporting modules
Product Realization and Marketing – from concept
to a successful product
Sensory Evaluation of Foods
 Trained panel evaluation of food products (descriptive
sensory evaluation)
 Consumer acceptance of food products
Importance of Intellectual Property in Food
Processing Enterprises

Technical Description Documents
NFTRC produces technical description documents on
different types of food processing, as well as food
safety
These documents form the product description part of
the business plan, and include the following details:

Technical Description Documents (cont’d)
Zoning/location of business
Overall space and allocation
Storage
Equipment
 scale of production vs. size of equipment
 type
 capacity
 layout

Technical Description Documents (cont’d)
Raw material selection
 Sources
 Average costs
 Seasonality
 Quality
Cleaning and maintenance programme
Pest management and waste disposal
Processing
Packaging and labelling
Quality control

NFTRC Prototypes for Commercialization
Nature of
Product
Product Description
VELD
PRODUCTS
Mmilo fruit squares
Mmilo fruit stew
Mmilo in syrup
These products are intended for the utilization of natural raw
materials found in most parts of the country. To promote small
business in rural communities aimed at the tourism industry
Morama butter, oil, milk
Sesoswane oil, composite
flours (wheat-sorghum)
These are found in remote areas. Morama and sesoswane
contain essential micronutrients that could be used to correct
some deficiencies in other foods such as cereals. Utilization of
these products could alleviate micronutrient deficiency
Moretlwa dairy mix
Moretlwa fruit roll
Mogorogorwana fruit roll
For high fibre and energy content
Morula cider, jam Morula is found in abundance in the eastern part of the
country. NFTRC worked with Veldt Product Research and
Development to develop products aimed at creating
employment for income-generating activities
Mosata atchar Mosata is a plant found in Tswapong area; it has a meaty
taste & therefore can be used as a meat substitute
Phane and vegetable
soup dry mix
Phane, onion and tomato
mix
Contains high protein content and it is also seasonal. Canning
of phane can make it available throughout the year and for the
export market

Nature of
Product
Product Description
FRUITS AND
VEGETABLES
Watermelon jam, drink, juice
blends, melon jam, melon and
lemon marmalade, lemon
curd, peaches in syrup,
vegetable atchar, vegetable
drink
These are seasonal, but found in
abundance when in season. Therefore
NFTRC encourages entrepreneurship in
such products
Morogo wa dinawa Hygienic processing of traditional
vegetables
Tomato products – paste,
dried tomatoes, juice, purée,
salsa
Developed to absorb the increasing supply
of tomatoes in the saturated fresh produce
market

Nature of
Product
Product Description
CEREALS,
PULSES AND
ROOTCROP
PRODUCTS
Dried ting Encourages commercialization of dried
fermented sorghum flour
Tsabana weaning food,
extruded sorghum and
maize snacks, instant
porridges
Promotion of the utilization of sorghum and
maize since they are readily available raw
materials
Peanut butter A popular product for entrepreneurs, readily
available market as it is used in school-feeding
programmes
Sweet potato:
•dehydrated mash
•flour
•jam
•ketchup
•puree with mixed fruit
•puree with mixed
vegetables
•salads
•desserts
The development of these products was funded
by the Southern African Root-crops Research
Network (SARRNET), to promote utilization of
sweet potato in Botswana

Nature of
Product
Product Description
SOYFOODS
Soya coffee
Soyghurt (soy yoghurt)
Soymilk
Soy is a high protein source that can be used
as substitute for meat
PACKAGING
OF LOCAL
PRODUCE
All local farm produce Entrepreneurs are trained on various aspects of
food packaging, to create markets for local
produce
MEAT
PRODUCTS
Polony, pastrami, smoked
meat, sausages, biltong,
ham, patties and
indigenous products
Through training of small-, to medium scale
entrepreneurs, the programme promotes
commercial processing of beef, donkey, pork,
game and poultry
DAIRY
PRODUCTS Yoghurts , madila
Hygienic processing of madila and yoghurt;
modified traditional processing of madila to
reduce wastage

Summary of Product Possibilities
Fruit and Vegetable Products (dried fruits, fruit rolls, frozen
vegetables, pickles, jams, juices, etc.)
Cereal Products (snack foods, breakfast cereals, instant flours,
malted and milled products, etc.)
Products from Oilseeds, Pulses and Legumes (soy products, peanut
snacks, peanut butter, morama products, etc.)
Products from Root Crops (sweet potato products)
Dairy Products (yoghurt, cheese, madila, etc.)
Meat and Fish Products (sausages, biltong, salted and smoked
products, etc.)

Business Possibilities in Food Safety
From a service provision perspective, individuals and
companies can get trained in Food Safety so as to leverage
themselves to become the preferred service provider under
the following categories:
Caterers
Catering businesses such as restaurants, cafés and takeaways –
compliance with food hygiene regulations – clean facilities and food
handlers, proper storage and pest control, effective cleaning and
maintenance programme, etc.
Retailers
Through compliance with food hygiene regulations, and generally
having clean facilities and food handlers that customers can see ,
retail outlets such as shops typically known as small general dealers
can give themselves a competitive edge over the competition

Business Possibilities in Food Safety… 2
Schools and day-care centres
Schools and day-care centres that adhere to food hygiene
regulations and can demonstrate such competitive edge through a
documented simple, straightforward food safety system that for
example includes information on feeding babies and children,
cooking, cleaning, chilling, how to look after a child with a food
allergy, etc., will be preferred over those centres that have no
system in place
Residential care homes
Residential care homes such as hospices, old age homes,
orphanages, etc., whose caterers and staff can demonstrate their
ability to prepare and cook safer food for their residents, will be
preferred over those that cannot

The World as a Global Village
International Markets
With Botswana being a rather small market, entrepreneurs should be
prudent and seek external/international markets
International markets
Vast opportunities – size, volume – consider Angola,
Moçambique, Zambia, DRC, South Sudan and other
emerging markets
But also – many unique challenges to food manufacturers
54

The World as a Global Village
Need for targeted market research on a variety of issues:
 Consumer tastes & preferences
 Foreign health regulations
 Transportation logistics
 Product reformulation
 Packaging & labelling adjustments
 International trade shows
 Exporting and customs clearance
 Market entry strategies
55

Electronic Business/E-commerceElectronic Business/E-commerce
Electronic Commerce Strategies and Education
E-commerce plays a valuable role at every level in
the food industry
Website development/design
Training on internet marketing, web-based research, etc.
On-line transactions using credit and debit cards, digital
cash, smart cards, electronic cheques, etc.
56

So, which are the priority/winning products?So, which are the priority/winning products?
Product Category Product(s)
Meat and Meat Products • Frozen beef seswaa
• Donkey meat seswaa
• Canned beef stew
• Mokungwana
• Canned serobe
• Canned fish
• Smoked fish
57

Milk and Milk Products • Madila
• Whey drinks
• Yoghurt
• Ongondivi (cooked milk fat)
58

Product
Category
Product(s)
Fruit and
Vegetable
Products
• Morula, mmilo, lerotse (melon), watermelon, mokapane, moretlwa,
mogwana – selection of products including puréed pulp (kgodu), fruit
jam, juices, juice blends, dairy blends, dried fruits, fruit rolls, syrup
pickles
• Mowana yoghurt
• Bogobe ja mokolwane (fruit pulp cooked in milk)
• Morogo wa dinawa
• Delele (blanched and dried)
• Morogo o o tsentsweng manoko kgotsa moko wa morula
• Vegetable atchar
• Mahupu (Kgalagadi desert truffles) – dried truffles, vacuum-packed
truffles, beef & truffle stir-fry, truffle oil
59

Product
Category
Product(s)
Cereals and Root-crops • Sorghum mageu
• Dried ting
• Sorghum malt
• Sorghum-lerotse flour for bogobe ja lerotse (thophi)
• Lesasaoka and mosutlhane savoury salads and
convenience foods
• Pearl millet – senkgwana, sekome
• Tswii & bones/bone broth
• Sweet potato – puddings, weaning foods and
dehydrated mash
60

Pulses and oilseeds • Sunflower oil
• Morama oil; morama milk; morama roasted nuts
• Mungongo/mokongwa products (similar to morama
products)
• Dikgobe
• Ditloo (jugo bean) convenience foods
• Savoury bean- and roasted seed sauces
• Sesoswane, pumpkin, watermelon, kgengwe &
lerotse roasted seeds
61

Product
Category
Product(s)
Insect Products • Fried/roasted dried insects e.g.:
phane (Imbrasia belina)
monakamongwe (Agrius convolvuli L.)
nato (Cirina forda)
lebitse/kakanatswii (Sternocera orissa Buq.)
62

Hot beverages • Mint teas – mosukudu, mosukujane, lengana tea –
blanched and dried (cold liquid versions too, as ice
tea)
• Dikgose/mogose ‘coffee’
• Motlopi ‘coffee’
63

Background
Generally classified as a thick porridge (20-30% solids)
To produce ting, a slurry made from a meal of decorticated
sorghum is fermented and processed to make porridge;
viscocities differ (Sekwati-Monang &, Gänzle, 2011), thus soft
or thick porridge
Consumed as a soft porridge (breakfast) or thicker (lunch,
dinner)
Case Study: Dried Ting

Background... 2
Traditionally it is obtained through natural fermentation of a
40-45% w/v sorghum meal in warm water slurry over about 2-
3 days in a warm place (30-37ºC) (Nyanzi & Jooste, 2012)
The Bakgatla tribe is informally accepted as the standard for
ting processing; the supernatant water is washed off daily to
remove unwanted microorganism species from the surface,
which organisms would otherwise spoil the flavour
By the end of the fermentation the pH is between 3.5 and
4.0 (Sekwati-Monang, 2011) (pH 3.8; Hamaker, 2007)

Indigenous Knowledge Findings
Findings were consistent with literature
Current Technological Challenges include:
Inconsistencies in inoculum concentration
Hygiene
Uncontrolled fermentation
Compromised fermentation during winter when temperatures are
lower
Growth of undesired/spoilage organisms
Fermentation takes long (no less than 2days)

NFTRC Product Formulation
Product = Dried Ting
Formulation based on fermentation cultures as per research
by Mpuchane (1987)
Fermented ting culture is added to unfermented sorghum
flour at 10-15% (FAO, 1995)
The slurry is incubated in a sealed container at 30o
C for
24hrs
The surface is washed with water and the ting slurry thinly
spread on trays and dried
Dried ting is packaged in plastic bags

Sustainability
Highly sustainable; sorghum is Botswana’s staple food, and
grows under rain-fed conditions
Further, alternative ting culture combinations have been
developed by Sekwati-Monang and Gänzle (2011), all of which
produce acceptable ting

Physical and Chemical Composition and
Important Functional/ Nutraceutical Aspects
Fermentation results in improved digestibility (Taylor &
Taylor, 2002)
Ting fermentation improves nutrient levels and reduces anti-
nutritional factors, thus increasing nutrient availability in the
body, as well as enhancing sensory attributes i.e. taste,
aroma, texture, etc. (Sekwati-Monang and Gänzle, 2011)
In turn, increased sensory attributes generally result in
increased food intake, hence more nutrients available for the
body

Market Prospects
Dried ting has already proven to be an appealing product,
based on consumer/public feedback at all events where
NFTRC exhibits it
There is currently a product branded dried ting on the
market, but it has so far achieved rather limited consumer
response, most likely because it is imported, and Batswana
believe strongly that they hold the best indigenous knowledge
on ting; it is also possible that the few consumers that have
tried it did not like it
Porridge made from dried ting produced through the
NFTRC’s method has already passed the first consumer
acceptance testing, and is expected to pass validation testing
with large samples of consumers

NFTRC Processing and Testing Facilities
NFTRC Pilot PlantNFTRC Pilot Plant

Equipment
ExtruderExtruder • Toasted products are healthier than fried
ones
• Can be made from sorghum and maize
• Studies show that extruded products have
improved cholesterol-lowering effects over
baked products
http://www.foodproductdesign.com/articles/200
1/06/developments-and-trends------in-
extruded-snac.aspx

Equipment (cont’d)
RetortRetort
• Food first prepared, raw or
semi-cooked, and then
sealed into the retort
pouch or can
• Food inside is cooked; this
is essentially pressure
cooking
• Long shelf-life
• For meats (& other high-
protein, low-acid foods,
hence spoil easily), the
pouch or can is then
heated to 116-121°C for
several minutes under
high pressure, inside retort
or autoclave machine; this
process reliably kills all
commonly occurring
microorganisms (known
as a botulinum cook,
based on the highly
resistant Clostridium
botulinum – mokokomalo)

Bowl cutter/chopperBowl cutter/chopper
• Used extensively – meat industry – mince
meat to a fine degree and to blend and
emulsify proteins
• Machine comprises a rotating bowl into
which meat, protein and other ingredients
are deposited
• Ingredients are minced in the bowl by a
multi-bladed revolving knife positioned at
the rear of the bowl and revolving in the
vertical plane. Most machines have a
selected range of knife speeds
• Manual removal of product is common on
small machines but large machines are
usually fitted with an uploading scraper
which discharges the product from the
bowl into a container via a chute
• Can be used for rapid cutting of other raw
materials such as vegetables

Fruit and Vegetable PulperFruit and Vegetable Pulper
• For extracting pulp from fruits and other pulpy
material such as vegetables
• Fruit enters machine through inlet and gets
pulped by beater bar, liquid discharged through
filter while solids retained

Endlesspossibilitiesinfoodresearch Equipment (cont’d)
SoyCowSoyCow
Soybeans or morama beans
Blanching
Pressure-cooking in SoyCow
Filtration
Homogenisation
Bottling/Pasteurisation
• Vegetable milk can
be further processed
into value-added
products such as curd
and yogurt
• The pulp that is
produced as a by-
product can be used
in breads, spreads
and many other foods

Laboratory testing of foods
Routine biochemical analysis of food
samples for product safety and quality
 Residues and Toxins
 Vitamins and Minerals
 Proteins and amino acids
 Carbohydrates and sugars
 Fats and oils
Microbiological and DNA detection
and identification of pathogens;
allergens; toxins and GMOs
Probiotics: Characterization and
identification of probiotic species
isolated from Botswana fermented
products

Some of NFTRC’s Food Technologies

Take-home Message
Batswana food industry entrepreneurs should take advantage of
initiatives such as the Economic Diversification Drive, Poverty
Eradication Initiative, CEDA Young Farmers Fund, Out-of-School
Youth Grant, LEA Training and Incubation, etc. while these
opportunities still exist
Since human beings, like all other animals, will always have to
eat, the food industry offers one sector of the economy that can
always be relied upon to perform reasonably well, despite the
occurrence of economic recessions or depressions

Take-home Message 2
For a food item to grow from being just an idea, to being
a successful product on the market, much effort and
determination on the part of the entrepreneur, and the
availability of technology transfer agents, are required to
ensure that the idea progresses from concept all the way
to commercialization
80

As a business strategy, agro-/food processing enterprises ought
to identify attractive export markets, because despite the current
gap in local supplies, it might still take a while to:
balance out the trade disparity that for now seems to lean heavily in
favour of South Africa
change consumers’ mindsets and create awareness in terms of the
potential and ability of Botswana’s entrepreneurs to produce good
quality products that conform to international standards
Take-home Message 3

Once an entrepreneur is in the food business or indicates
interest in it, technology transfer agents should make sure to
backstop their activities so as to enable them to not only
commercialize their products, but also to protect and exploit
their intellectual property through:
trademarks (branding)
copyright (e.g. recipe books, websites, etc.)
trade secrets
utility models (petty patents)
Entrepreneurs should be aware that they can effectively
license other companies to produce the appealing products
that their creative minds come up with, hence enabling the
entrepreneur to generate income through
royalties/payments coming from such technology licensing
Take-home Message 4

The management of intellectual property (IP) and
indigenous/traditional knowledge systems (IKS) has received
increasing attention from government, and a policy has been
drafted – players in agro- & food processing need to position
themselves in ways that will enable them to fully utilize their IP
rights, to encourage their food businesses to flourish and claim
their rightful place in diversifying Botswana’s economy
Take-home Message 5

Entrepreneurs need to be aware of the concept of economies
of scale – the fact that larger scales of production result in
greater the profit margins. Cooperatives have in the past done
quite well in Botswana, they do quite well in other countries,
and there is no reason why they should not do well in
Botswana today; therefore, only if farmers put together their
agricultural production and raw material supplies, and if food
processing enterprises pool resources in terms of equipment,
expertise and product supply, can we expect our products to
compete effectively with food imports
The transfer of NFTRC’s technologies, when delivered and
received systematically, will result in effective economic
diversification and poverty alleviation
Take-home Message 6

Cognizant of the power and influence that you hold, we wish to
implore you-, as Botswana’s political leadership, to:
familiarise yourselves with the Food Control Act, so as to place
yourselves in good stead with regard to advising and encouraging your
electorate, for them to actively and meaningfully participate in
Botswana’s potentially lucrative food industry
make your electorate aware that you have facilitated easy entry into
the market by ensuring that small and micro food businesses, including
food catering, are exempted from licensing requirements, although
conditions and guidelines apply
refuse to tolerate Botswana’s rather high level of food imports, and
urge your constituencies to be active in both primary and secondary
production in agriculture
Take-home Message 7

remind your communities that-, contrary to popular opinion, Batswana
are naturally not a lazy nation, but they may instead possibly be
succumbing to what is known as the resource curse, or paradox of plenty
(which is about countries that are endowed with an abundance of
natural resources, specifically non-renewable resources like minerals,
tending to have less economic growth than countries with fewer
resources);
entrepreneurs interested in entering Botswana’s food industry need to
borrow a leaf from the country’s thriving fashion design industry (see
http://www.gazettebw.com/?p=5345), and embrace their own passion
with commitment and enthusiasm
Take-home Message 8

Thank you very muchThank you very much
for your attention,for your attention,
Ladies and GentlemenLadies and Gentlemen

Business Opportunities in the Food Industry - Botswana - Dec 2014

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Editor's Notes